Secrets in the Dark
by Thine Dreamer Doth Take Flight
Summary: Crack-fic that came from playing Jak X with my sister. It turns out that Cutter is actually a really pretty girl under that mask. And Razer is a sexist womanizer. And Edje has a thing for the boss. Lame summary! Cutter X Shiv!


_A/N: Playing **Jak X** with my sister spawned this crack-fic that you see before you. The pairing? Shiv and Cutter, of course! But I don't wish to reveal too much here in this note, so if you wanna know more, please read on. ^.^_

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><p><strong>Secrets in the Dark<strong>

A dark-haired man breathed out smoke, seated comfortably in a chair with his feet propped up as he dragged on his cigarette while he looked at two of his three lackeys that were standing in front of him. One was a muscled brunette who had very few brains and the other was a red-head whose long ears had been made short in a battle long forgotten. Edje and Shiv were their names, respectfully so in their line of work. Their comrade that wasn't present was a dark-haired person and always wore a mask so no one would know what they looked like. It was a secret well-kept, and this man would like for it to remain that way.

"What is taking that incompetent fool so long?" he demanded of his lackeys.

"Cutter was feeling under the weather, boss. Something he ate, I think," Edje replied.

"I warned that dumbass that those eggs were rotten, but he doesn't listen to me," Shiv grumbled. "With his stupidity, he'll probably be hanging his head over the porcelain throne for the rest of the night."

The man hit his fist against the table, now sitting upright in anger. "I don't have all night to wait for him to get over his stupidity! Get him and bring him here right now! And bring a bucket for him to get sick in! I don't want to have him vomiting over my furnishings or someone's going to pay dearly for it!"

"As you wish, Razer," Shiv muttered, turning on his heel towards the bathroom.

The group was gathered in Razer's fancy mansion where they lived all the time, but it was for something important that they were meeting. The boss hadn't told them yet, as he had waited for them all to come out to inform them of his intentions. Edje was clueless of the motive. Shiv, however, had some idea of what Razer wanted. His boss would probably want to go after that rookie who had shown them all up on the track during their races, or maybe that daughter of Krew that had just seized control of Kras City. Those were Razer's biggest threats, so either one was equally likely. Cutter had agreed with him during dinner before he had eaten that rotten caviar and gotten sick.

He came to the bathroom door. The only thing he heard was the sound of someone heaving, a disgusting noise that made his stomach churn unpleasantly.

"Pull yourself together. The boss wants you to join us," Shiv remarked, coming into the bathroom without knocking because he was short on patience.

Cutter glanced up at him with wide eyes, and it was then that Shiv noticed his mask sitting on the sink. It made sense that he would take it off while getting sick so it wouldn't get covered with puke, but what was hiding under the mask was very surprising. A very womanly face had been hidden from the world, complete with a beautiful pair of green eyes and a full set of lips. Cutter quickly turned his back on Shiv, embarrassed to be caught like this.

"You're supposed to knock first!" Cutter shouted—his voice also very feminine.

"…So, is this why you never take off that mask? Because you look like a girl?" Shiv asked, too shocked to jump to an obvious conclusion.

"You moron! I _am_ a girl!" Cutter hissed, grabbing her mask without looking and sliding it onto her face. Her voice was masculine again as she told him, "I'll explain it later. The boss has little patience and you said he wants me to come with you." She straightened and grabbed a bucket from the bathroom closet. "Let's go before he comes to demand what's taking us so long."

Shaken by this revelation that Cutter was a chick, Shiv walked in a daze with his comrade back to the parlor where Edje and Razer were waiting. Her hard eyes glared at him through the mask, clearly telling him to knock it off before the others noticed. Shiv regained his composure just as he set foot in the parlor. They took their position on either side of Edje without giving any hints that anything was amiss. Then Cutter doubled over and had to use the bucket she brought along to catch her puke.

Razer eyed Cutter with indifference. "I'm glad you could pull your head away from the toilet long enough to join us."

"Yeah…I do what I can for you, boss," Cutter mumbled, looking pretty green.

"Yes, well, I'll be the judge of that," Razer said with a roll of the eyes. "I have something very important to discuss with you, something that I've been planning for quite some time now. Listen closely because I really don't want to have to explain this more than once. It would annoy me very much if one of you…" At this, he pointedly looked at Edje. "…were to ask me to repeat myself or to elaborate. My patience is thin enough as it is because of Cutter's lack of punctuality. I wouldn't try it any further if you value your life.

"That dumb offspring of Krew is becoming a real nuisance as of late. She's demanding that all crime lords report to and swear allegiance to her. Those that refuse to do so are disposed of by her people. She approached me today after I had completed a death race with the highest score and asked that I meet her tomorrow at her mansion. I know what she intends to demand of me, but now that Mizo's gone, I don't feel that I should have to take orders from anyone." Razer flicked ash onto the floor, which prompted a maid in skimpy clothes to come and clean it up. "I prefer to be in charge. It's much better for me that way because I get to do what I want, not what some pompous ass tells me to do. No blue-haired bimbo and her hired guns are going to make me change my mind.

"So instead of going there to get whipped, I think I might just…go there to kill her and take her place as controller of this city. It would be so nice to have this whole city following whatever I say and not just a few people. Tomorrow, we are going to Rayn's mansion as she expects, but we're going to take out her and those that stand with her until we're the only ones left standing in the dust. Then once we've taken care of her and have this city under our control, we'll finish off Jak once and for all."

It was a plan for suicidal fools, but Razer wasn't one who always thought everything through. Edje, Cutter, and Shiv exchanged glances, unsure of what to think.

"How are four men supposed to take on an army?" Shiv asked.

Razer smirked. "You didn't think you were my only boys, did you?"

"You mean, you've hired more people to help you?" Edje's slow brain was actually managing to keep up with all of this, even if it did ask dumb questions.

"Precisely," Razer stated. "Counting the three of you, I have well over a hundred men under my command, ready to take on Rayn and drive her out of power. Many of them come from other gangs that don't want that bitch bossing them around—they think I can be a better crime boss than she could ever be, and they're right. That Wastelander Kleiver has agreed to help out as well, and of course UR-86 is all for killing things no matter what the reason. No matter how many people Rayn has at her command, they'll have a hard time dismantling '86."

"What if she gets Jak and his company to help her?" Cutter wanted to know.

Razer rolled his eyes. "After the way she used them, I doubt they'd be willing to support her in anything. And they don't strike me as the kind to get involved in a conflict that doesn't have anything to do with them. Even if I'm wrong and they do help Rayn, it'll just make our job that much simpler. We would be rid of both of our annoyances in one outing. Then we would be free to do whatever we please."

"It's a really good idea, boss. It might even work," Edje remarked.

"You dolt! Of course it will work!" Razer snapped, glaring at the brunette. He took another drag and breathed out the smoke to soothe himself. "You three are dismissed for the night. Stay out of trouble and watch your back. I can't afford to lose you when I am so close to victory."

The trio bowed before leaving the parlor. Their rooms were upstairs on the third floor, well away from Razer's quarters for courting women as he didn't like his conquests to see his lackeys. Cutter went into the bathroom to resume vomiting and Edje walked into his bedroom to do whatever it was he did in there. Shiv paused outside of the bathroom, wondering if he should confront Cutter now for an explanation or wait until she was feeling better. His hand froze above the doorknob before he heard it lock to prevent him from walking in on Cutter again. He sighed and shook his head before going off into his room. There he grabbed his car keys and headed back downstairs.

If he didn't find some way to cure Cutter's food poisoning before night's end, he would probably never learn anything about his best friend's true identity.

The garage was empty of anyone else; only the gang's cars sat in the dump as they did every night since they had failed Razer by not defeating Jak and his friends. Razer's was missing—that oaf was probably out to find a woman to court again—but everyone else's was accounted for. Shiv jumped into his and fired up the car, glad to hear the roar of the engine after all these weeks. He drove it out onto the streets of Kras City, determined to find some sort of doctor or herbalist that could help him help Cutter to find the truth.

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><p>Cutter heaved whatever was in her stomach into the toilet bowl, hardly able to breathe in between heaves as the digested bits of food forced their way out of her body. Her brown mask lay in the sink in warm water to get rid of the vomit that had gotten on it when she became sick in Razer's presence. Her face was exposed again, but she made sure no one could walk in and see who she really was for the second time that evening. Her chest was hurting from getting sick so often and her throat didn't feel like it could take much more of this. Why hadn't she listened to Shiv when he said that caviar looked rotten? After all, it had been Edje that had brought it into the house. That should have made her question its safety more than she had.<p>

A little more than two hours had passed since Razer had dismissed them, and the time had all been spent getting sick for poor little Cutter. No thoughts went through her head as she was too busy purging involuntarily to think. She just subconsciously worried what Shiv would think of her now that he knew her best-kept secret. Would their friendship remain intact, or would it fall to pieces because of their difference in gender? Only time would tell, and their time seemed to be short with Razer's new plan to conquer Kras City and take Rayn out of the picture.

Someone knocked at the door just as Cutter finally managed to stop heaving. She slumped against the wall after making the toilet flush, fumbling with the lock to let whoever it was in. At the same time she was reaching to put her mask on to keep her identity a secret. No one really needed to know that the mysterious Cutter was a woman. It was unnecessary information. Even if Shiv had seen her, she wouldn't let anyone else know until long after the life left her body.

"…Who is it?" she demanded, a filter on her mask making her voice that of a man's.

"It's me, so you can cut the act," Shiv's deep voice said from the other side of the door. "Let me in, Cutter. I've got some things to help you with your ailment."

Normally, she would have just told him to leave the medicine by the door and go away like a rude man. But he had kept quiet in the presence of the boss, thus keeping Edje out of the loop of knowing what she was, so she couldn't be that way to him. With a painful groan she unlocked the door for him, granting him entrance. The door swung open for a second before closing again, only now there was another person in the bathroom. Shiv looked down at her slumped figure with sympathy as he locked the door to prevent Edje from coming in here to ruin things. He had a brown paper bag in his right hand, which Cutter assumed held the medicine that would help her out.

"You don't need to wear that mask. I know what you are," Shiv muttered as he took a seat on the bathroom floor across from his best friend.

"I know, but you're not supposed to," Cutter remarked as she removed the mask from her face again only to toss it back in the sink. "No one is supposed to know that Cutter is actually a girl. It would ruin Razer's image if he, a womanizer, had a woman working for him in places other than his bedroom."

"So he knows you're a girl?" Shiv asked.

"Yeah. He found out when he first welcomed me into his gang. He's the one that gave me that dumb mask, too," Cutter grumbled. "But before we speak any further, what do you have for me that'll keep my food in my stomach? I really don't want to get sick again… It's not fun and I think I'm going to be tasting vomit in my mouth for the next month at the rate I'm going."

The ginger pulled several bottles of different-colored liquids out of the brown paper bag, totaling five different medicines with different names. Shiv first handed her a glass bottle with a purplish liquid inside. "This will stop your stomach from expelling anything anymore. Drink it all." She popped off the top and took a sip, making a face because of the taste, before downing the rest in a hurry. That glass bottle ended up in the trash. "This green one will remove the rest of that nasty caviar from your system in a more manageable way. Empty this also." The taste was slightly more pleasant, but Cutter's face showed she didn't like these medicines at all. Shiv tried not to smile at her reactions, which was much easier said than done, as he picked up the orange medicine. "This will repair the damage to your throat from all the acid that came up it." Cutter almost got sick from the disgusting taste of that medicine, but the purple medicine she had taken before stopped that. "This pink one will soothe your stomach discomfort." Cutter gagged and yet still managed to swallow it all. "And this last yellow one is to numb you of any pain you might have that wasn't taken care of by the other medicines."

"How quickly does it work?" Cutter asked after pulling faces of distaste again. She got her answer when any and all unpleasant feelings disappeared. "Wow…"

"Feel better now, moron?" Shiv teased, tossing the paper bag into the trash can.

"Yes, actually. Thank you for going through so much trouble to help me out even though I was dumb enough to eat something brought here by Edje," Cutter said with a small smile. "What do you want from me?"

"Nothing much. Just the truth," Shiv replied as he stood.

"The truth?" Cutter hesitated as she, too, got to her feet. She retrieved her mask from the sink and busied herself with drying it off with a towel. The sink made noises as the water drained from it, the only sound in the silent bathroom now that the medicine was fully working. "…I don't think we should talk about it in here. Let's retire to my room. It will be safer to discuss it there where Edje can't accidentally overhear us."

She slid her mask into place once again before they left the bathroom. There was no one in the hall besides them, proving the mask to be a pointless but necessary precaution. They walked into her room, and when both of them were inside she secured the door so no one could enter even if they tried picking the lock. It was then that Shiv realized he had never been in Cutter's room before and took the opportunity to look around.

Her room was very bare and lacking the furnishings that the rest of the guys had in their private chambers. Aside from her bed with plain white sheets and a basic dresser, nothing else had made its way in here. The walls were blank, completely clear of any posters or décor of any kind. The floor they stood on was just plain old hardwood, dusty from age and having nothing on it to gather the dust instead. Shiv wondered why this was; perhaps Cutter could never make that room her own because she couldn't really be herself and that was the explanation for this place's bareness.

"I know this is hard to wrap your head around," Cutter said as she tossed her mask onto the bed and unpinned her dark hair so it fell down to frame her face. "Feel free to ask any questions, and I'll do my best to answer them. It's only fair that I be completely honest with you now that you know my secret."

"How could you have been a girl this whole time when we've been working together for over ten years?" Shiv demanded, his confusion returning full force. Ten years of being subordinates to Razer, and he never had even the slightest incline that Cutter was of the opposite sex. How could he have failed to see that? He was the sharpest mind under Razer's control, able to see things that his boss and Edje and Cutter couldn't, but he had missed this.

Cutter smiled. "I just am. There's no other explanation other than I was born a girl and will die a girl. I never asked to pretend to be a man. As I said before, this whole thing was designed by Razer to keep his reputation as a hard ass and womanizer intact. I came to him and showed him my skill with a gun among other essential things you've seen me accomplish over the years and requested to join his gang. He agreed to allow me in, but only if I hid my gender from the world. Since I had nowhere else to go, I had no choice. I was just lucky he didn't find me attractive enough to warm his bed. There's no telling what creepy-crawlies the boss has with all the women he's brought home to his room." At this, Cutter shuddered. "Don't be sore over not knowing until now that I'm a female. No one else has ever figured it out from looking at me in the mask, and many had as sharp a mind as you."

"…This actually explains a lot," Shiv commented. "It explains why you never went swimming with us or brought a girl home from the bar even when they were hitting hard on you. Now I understand why you never used the urinal in public restrooms…and you never wanting to be in my room makes total sense, too."

"Can you blame me for that? All those racy women posters on your walls, most of them naked…That's enough to make even a girl pretending to be a guy disturbed," Cutter pointed out. "Why you need posters like that when you get enough ass from night adventures at the Bloody Hook is beyond me. I guess you need them for the nights when you don't have a woman in your bed and your only pleasure comes from your right hand." Even when not playing the role of a man, Cutter was as rude as ever.

"I don't have to explain those to you," Shiv growled, though he was a bit embarrassed by her comments. "Is Cutter even your real name? It's not a very appropriate name for a woman unless your parents were hoping for a son."

"No, Cutter's not my real name, but it's only a couple letters short of it," she admitted. "The name my parents gave me is Cutteria because as you said, they wanted a son. Instead they got me and had to improvise on a girl name. Razer just took off the last two letters for my male title. Real original, right?" She sighed and crossed her arms over her unnaturally flat chest. "I don't like being a guy, Shiv. I mean, I like my job. It's kickass to be in a gang ruled by the greatest racer to ever live and have such power in this city. But…I don't know. It just doesn't feel real because I'm not really recognized for what I've done. Cutter gets all the credit, but not Cutteria. No one knows who I am, not really. I bet after all this time that even Razer's forgotten who I am. It has been over ten years since I approached him in that alley. It wouldn't surprise me if he forgot."

"But you are Cutter. Everything that Cutter has done in this world is because of you because you are him. He might not be real and you may not feel that what you've done is real, but it is. And you're the best damn fighter I've ever seen. Balls or no, you're the best fighter Razer has at his disposal, and nothing will ever change that," Shiv stated, putting a friendly hand on Cutter's shoulder.

"That's funny…I always thought you were the best fighter out of the two of us," Cutter remarked. "I kept making mistakes that would bring Razer's wrath on me, and you would cover my ass by taking out our intended targets for me. You had the better aim and the calmer head. There's a reason why you're Razer's right-hand man, not me. You are the best damn fighter Razer has, not me."

Shiv shook his head. "You're talking all the way back to the beginning, when you first became one of us. Of course you cracked under the pressure—you weren't used to being in a combat situation. I covered you because you were my comrade and the only reason I looked so good was due to the three years of experience I had under my belt. You should have seen me when I first came to Razer's gang. I was sloppy and made some major mistakes that cost me a good portion of my ears. Edje was barely better off than me. But you…You improved much more quickly than we ever did. In fact, I was talking with Razer just the other day about you becoming his right-hand man instead of me."

Cutter raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Yeah. He agreed that you were the better fighter, but he wouldn't change our titles. He said it was because my experience was greater than yours. I believed him then. Now I doubt that was the real reason. I bet he just didn't want a woman to be his successor, even if she is kickass," Shiv told her.

"He's such a sexist bastard," Cutter muttered. "But thank you for trying."

"Anything for my best friend," Shiv said.

The dark-haired woman looked meaningfully at him. "Are we really still friends now that you know the truth? You've only used women for a night of pleasure and never thought much better of them than our boss. I've heard you say ill things of us many times. How can you change your opinion of us just because you find out your best friend and comrade is a woman? Unless you intend to lure me into your bed now…"

"Are you hinting at something, Cutter?" Shiv wanted to know. "Interested in me?"

Cutter's face flustered. "Of course not! I'm just wondering about your motives, that's all! I would never dream of becoming one of your conquests!"

Shiv sneered. "Ease up, darling. I was just teasing. You've been my closest friend for all these years. I don't even know if I could think of luring you into my bedroom even with this new revelation that you are a woman. It just doesn't seem possible. My mind's still trying to work it out."

"What's so hard to work out? I'm a girl that has to do many things to keep her identity a secret. That mask keeps people from seeing my face and makes me sound like a rude ass man just like the rest of you. I have to bind my chest to give it the appearance of being flat and can't grow my hair out very long. In regards to my hair, I have to pin it up a certain way so no one notices that it's even pinned. And that's not even going into what Razer made me do to ensure I don't have my monthly cycle…" Cutter trailed off, looking very bitter about whatever it was that Razer made her do.

"What…What did he do?" Shiv asked.

"He made me get a hysterectomy!" Cutter snapped. "I got cut wide open by a loony doctor and that monster made it impossible for me to ever have children! Not only that, but now I have to take estrogen supplements to remain my normal self or risk injury! It sucks so much that I've had to change this drastically to remain a member of this shitty organization! Why couldn't Razer have just accepted me for who I am and be done with it?! It's not fair!"

Cutter was clearly very unhappy with all she had to do to be in the gang. It showed on her face as she struggled to regain control of her anger. Shiv felt some pity for her because of this. She might have wanted to have children one day, but now that option was taken from her because Razer had his head stuck up his ass. No one could ever know that Cutter was a woman, or rather, no one was supposed to know. Therefore, she could never get too close to anyone or have a meaningful relationship with anyone. She could never be happy as long as she remained a part of Razer's gang. All she would be was Razer's best gun and a miserable dolt all because their boss was a sexist bastard.

"If what he's done makes you so unhappy, why not leave?" Shiv suggested.

The woman shrugged. "I can't. He depends on me too much and we're going into a big battle tomorrow. Besides, even if I wanted to leave, there's no place for me to go."

"You have all that money Mizo gave us for racing on his team," Shiv pointed out.

"Razer took it from me when you guys weren't looking. It's his way of making sure I don't leave him," Cutter muttered. She sat down on her bed and picked up her mask, the one she had worn for over ten years now. "He never wants me to leave. Even after you and Edje settle down to start families of your own and he finds a decent woman to stay with, he wants me to remain here as his constant protector. Of course, it's not really me he wants. It's Cutter. Cutteria has no place in this world anymore. According to him, she died when he agreed to bring me into his gang. And now I'm stuck here forever with no way out."

"…Even if I was stuck in your position, I'd prefer living on the streets to denying my identity for ten years," Shiv stated, taking the mask from her hand and tossing it at the wall, where it clattered to the floor noisily. "Someone would see you for who you really are and take you in. Your skills alone would be reason enough. Hell, I bet Rayn would accept you much better than the boss. I've heard she's actually not that bad of a crime boss, which is probably why Razer wants her dead. Good crime lords interfere with his business, so go figure." With a gentle hand, Shiv reached out to caress Cutter's face, something he never believed he'd ever do before today. "You deserve much better than what you have, Cutteria. Don't you ever be stupid enough to forget that, my friend."

"Just…Just stop it, Shiv." Cutter swatted his hand away from her face, feeling very uncomfortable all of a sudden. "I've resigned to my fate. There's nothing left for me. So don't try to fill my head with false hopes. It'll only make me miserable."

"But you're already miserable, bitch. You can't get any more miserable," Shiv remarked.

Cutter stood up suddenly and walked away from her comrade. "You asked for the truth and I've more than given it to you. There's no reason for you to stay here any longer. Return to your room full of racy women posters and forget what you've heard here. It would be best if we both forgot what happened tonight because tomorrow we're probably going to die due to Razer's insolence."

"You keep bringing up my room, but at least mine's better than Edje's. He has bunch of posters of the boss…and some of them are far from appropriate," Shiv put in.

"That's because Edje wants to be one of Razer's conquests and is obsessed with him just as you are obsessed with women," Cutter murmured. "Now leave me alone."

"No." At this, Shiv roughly grabbed Cutter's arm and forced her to look at him. "You've been alone long enough, my friend. You may have been surrounded by people like me that thought they were your friends, but you were always alone because no one could know the real you. They would only ever know Cutter, a man that is hardly like you at all. But now that I know who you really are, I don't want to simply forget and go on like nothing happened. You're a strong, capable, beautiful woman that deserves more respect than you've got, and I'll be damned if I'm to turn my back on you now."

Cutter's jade eyes turned to the floor. "But…But you have to."

"Says who? Razer's an incompetent fool and without us he is nothing." Shiv had always thought some ill things about his boss before, but now he was not holding back. To make a woman deny who she was just for a reputation was completely out of line and just proved what kind of man Razer really was. "It's past time you started to show your real colors, Cutteria. Shed this false identity you've been wearing for these past ten years and become who you really are. If that bastard has a problem with it, then he can suck it! I won't allow you to be miserable any longer, Cutteria. You should want to be happy."

She gave him a wan smile. "I do want to be happy. I just…don't know how to be."

"Then let me show you."

Saying so, Shiv forced his mouth onto Cutter's, another thing he never would have done before tonight. Cutter's back was against the door; she could try to escape at any time if she felt cornered. But she didn't seem to want to escape. Her soft lips melded with his not-so-soft ones, her tongue intertwining perfectly with his own. She moaned with pleasure as his mouth moved down her neck—Edje happened to be walking by when he heard this and figured that Cutter was finally getting some ass, of which he wasn't too far off—and her hands gripped tightly onto Shiv's shirt. She ripped it off like it was nothing; the ginger followed her example by lifting her shirt over heard head. Bandages were wound around her chest to give it the appearance of being flat, just as she had said. Shiv made short work of them before throwing Cutter to the floor. Why use the bed anyway?

On this night, Shiv made Cutter feel like a real woman for the first time in her life.

* * *

><p>Sunlight streamed into Cutter's room the next morning through her window, a natural alarm clock that told her it was about time to get up. She was lying on the floor in the same spot where she had been last night with absolutely nothing covering her body. She glanced to her sides to find that Shiv was nowhere to be found and swore. Despite what she had said earlier, it seemed that she had allowed herself to become one of his conquests. He had left her like he left all the other women he'd bedded. That infuriated her more than anything had ever done before.<p>

"When I see that pompous ass again…," Cutter swore, getting off the floor and moving to change in her closet.

Then the door opened and in walked a fully-dressed Shiv with clothes in his arms. Cutter turned around to look at him, surprised by his sudden reappearance. The man had never returned to his other conquests. He usually remained hidden until the upset woman left. His return was out-of-character. She looked at the clothes in his arms and realized they were not meant for a man. They were women's clothes that Shiv had brought for her. Did he intend for Cutter to broadcast to the world what she was?

"It's time to become the woman you are," Shiv stated, handing her the clothes.

Cutter agreed. She changed into the ensemble—a light blue low-cut blouse with billowy sleeves made of a satiny material with a short lavender skirt made of the same material, along with appropriate undergarments that she hadn't worn since before she became Cutter, and a pair of dark thigh-high boots with heels. She was afraid that the heels might kill her since she hadn't worn heels in years, and was therefore surprised by how easily she could walk in them. She smiled brightly when she looked at herself in the mirror, looking happier than she had been in a very long time. Shiv wrapped an arm around her shoulders, happy to see her happy.

"You look beautiful, Cutteria," he whispered, tickling her with his breath.

"I do, don't I?" Cutter agreed with a pleasant sigh. "Thank you, Shiv."

The ginger pecked her on the cheek. "Don't mention it, darling. I'd do anything for you if it would make you happy. Are you happy?"

Cutter thought about it for a moment and her smile broadened. "Yes."

Shiv grinned. "Good. Now you need to stay here for awhile. Razer wants to talk to us, but I don't want him to know that you're not going around as Cutter before we go to confront Rayn. If he knows it sooner, he might throw you out or force you to play the role of a man again, and I don't like either of those options."

"Neither do I," Cutter agreed.

"I'll come back for you when Razer and Edje leave," Shiv promised as he opened the door and stepped out.

Edje just happened to be coming out of his own room at the same moment. He looked in awe at Shiv, wondering what the hell that guy had been doing in Cutter's room. Shiv worried that he might have been caught already, but he wasn't that concerned about himself. He worried what would happen to Cutter.

"What were you doing in Cutter's room? He was finally getting some ass last night," Edje commented. "Unless you and him…"

"Shut up, Edje! We're not gay like you!" Shiv growled menacingly, silencing his comrade. "Cutter was in the bathroom all night getting sick because of your rotten caviar, so I decided to use his bedroom instead of my own! End of story! Now drop it and never speak of it again or I'll tell the boss what you really think of him!"

Edje's eyes widened in fear. "Please don't do that! I'll do anything to keep it a secret!"

"Then keep your mouth shut," Shiv grumbled, mentally relieved that his comrade was so easy to manipulate due to his forbidden love for Razer. "Let's go. The boss wants to see us, and with today being a big day I doubt he has much patience. And before you ask, Cutter won't be joining us. He's still hanging his head over the toilet. I hope you're happy for getting him sick."

The brunette put his hands up in surrender. "I didn't know!"

"Yeah, well, there's not much that you do know, is there?" Shiv snapped.

The duo headed downstairs towards the parlor where Razer was waiting. He was smoking another cigarette and forcing one of his maids to clean up any ashes that fell from it while his latest conquest sat on his lap. He was dressed fully in his usual red coat and black slacks, but she was underdressed just like the maid. She looked happy to be in Razer's arms, but was it true happiness? And if it was, how long would it last? Surely not much longer after she was tossed aside to make room for another woman. Seeing this made Shiv's blood boil, but he kept it hidden so he would not give away his knowledge of Cutter's secret.

"Where's that incompetent Cutter?" Razer asked calmly.

"Still suffering from food poisoning, but he should be well enough by the time we confront Rayn," Shiv replied. "I wouldn't recommend calling him down for this meeting though, Razer. It's better if he doesn't move much until the caviar is completely out of his system."

"Whatever," Razer grumbled. "We set out in ten minutes to gather my men. You may stay behind with that dumbass until he's ready to move out, Shiv. I trust you'll bring him in full health to Rayn's mansion within the hour. As he is the best fighter we have, we cannot afford to enter this battle without him…or you either. After I return this flower to her garden, I shall join you in bringing about Rayn's end."

It took all of Shiv's willpower to keep his composure. Razer probably didn't even know the name of that lady sitting on his lap, which was why he had called her a flower. She might have seen it as flattery or even a compliment to her beauty, but it wasn't either. It was Razer covering up the fact that he didn't care enough for her to even bother to remember her name. Shiv knew he had been that arrogant before he found out his best friend was a woman, but this now seemed completely ridiculous. Women deserved respect just as much as any man. How could Razer treat them this way?

Razer put out his cigarette in the maid's dustpan and stood with his conquest. "Come then, my pet and Edje. It's time to claim this city as my own."

Shiv watched them go vehemently until he couldn't see his dark-haired boss, his nameless blonde conquest, or the brunette man anymore. He took a moment to apologize to the maid for Razer's treatment, something he had never done before because of his own sexist behavior. She was surprised at him and thanked him for changing his opinion of women. He told her to change into something more conservative, though it was against Razer's policy for female civil servants, and said that Razer wouldn't be running this place for much longer. He also said for her to tell the other female civil servants to do the same. She rushed off with words of gratitude passing through her lips as she went. Then he went upstairs to collect Cutter.

Cutter could tell right away that something was bothering Shiv. "What is it?"

"Razer's a jerk undeserving of his place. After we kick Rayn's ass and claim this city, we're taking him down," Shiv declared. "Grab your guns and let's go show that bastard what women are really capable of."

The dark-haired lady smiled as she picked up her guns. "Let's kick some ass."

* * *

><p>They arrived on the scene in their separate cars to find the battle already in progress. Razer's followers were outnumbered by Rayn's three to one, but those were only numbers. UR-86 was blasting through the enemy like fire through wood, improving the odds in their favor. Big fat Kleiver was handling his gun very well, shooting off Peacemakers as well as normal bullets to take out a good handful of Rayn's men. Edje shot through man after man even after getting a bullet in the arm. Razer had his hands full, but he was bullet-free due to using UR-86 as a shield.<p>

Innocent citizens had left earlier, hiding in their houses or any other building they could seek shelter inside. Cutter saw Jak and his company's vehicles off in the distance heading this way. She didn't know if they would be fighting on Rayn's side or would just intervene to protect the innocent people, but really hoped they would leave well enough alone. She shot off her weapons that were attached in the car, taking out a bunch of Rayn's men with little hesitation as Shiv followed her example. The enemy turned on their cars, forcing them to abandon their vehicles just before they blew up.

Cutter wasted no time in firing her Vulcan Furies into any enemy that came in sight. She did evasive maneuvers whenever a weapon was turned on her, avoiding any bullets that might have done her some serious harm. She noticed Razer glaring at her from behind UR-86, but gave him no attention. He wouldn't call her out now in the middle of a deadly battle. That would only get them killed, and besides, she was turning the tides in their favor because she was his best fighter. He would have to accept that…for now.

Shiv backed her up with his Blaster. Whatever she failed to get with her fast blue bullets he took out with his somewhat slower yellow ones. Their teamwork was unparalleled and earned them many kills against Rayn. He noticed the blue-haired daughter of Krew was nowhere to be seen and figured she was hiding out in her mansion while her boys did all the dirty work. Then he corrected himself upon seeing some women on Rayn's side; Rayn's boys _and _girls were doing her dirty work for her while she relaxed in her mansion. They would have to draw her out before this battle was over so she couldn't escape and ruin his plans.

Without saying a word to Cutter because words were unnecessary, he slipped past Rayn's fighters with his friend covering him. He pulled out his lighter when he was close enough to the mansion and lit the end of a bomb before tossing it through a window. Five seconds later a loud explosion resulted, as well as a fire within the mansion. If that didn't draw Rayn out, nothing would and she was a suicidal fool. She came running out the front door, coughing from the smoke she had inhaled while inside her home, and had no time to react as Shiv grabbed her and held her at gun point.

"Drop your weapons now!" he commanded, drawing everyone's attention and stopping the fighting just as Jak's company appeared on the scene.

What remained of Rayn's fighters dropped their weapons onto the ground and held their hands up in surrender. Shiv was mildly surprised to see that most of those that remained were female, proving that women could be great fighters just like Cutter. Razer's men stopped firing as well, though UR-86 was hard to convince due to his love of killing things. Cutter came over to Shiv's side, followed by Razer and Edje while everyone else looked on.

"Well done, Shiv. Finish the job and rid us of this blue-haired pest," Razer urged. His gaze turned to Cutter, who met it unwaveringly. "I'll deal with you once she's dead, Cutter, and you won't particularly like what happens to you for disobeying my orders."

"Please! Don't kill me! I'll do anything! Just don't pull that trigger!" Rayn pleaded, struggling against Shiv's hard grip.

Razer laughed. "I wouldn't dream of sparing your life. A woman like you that thinks she can actually rule a city…who thinks she can control the almighty Razer…does not deserve to live. Women have no place leading crime. You should have realized that before you followed your father's ideals. Now you'll die for your stupidity and join him in the afterlife, where you should have ended up long ago." He looked at Shiv. "What are you waiting for? Kill her now."

"She's no longer a threat, Razer. Her numbers have been decimated and she has said she'd do anything to keep her life. There's no reason to take her life from her when she's lost everything else," Cutter stated.

The dark-haired man scowled and slapped Cutter across the face. "I don't want your opinion, you dumb broad! I said I want her dead for daring to mess with Razer, and dead she shall be! And after Shiv is finished with her, you'll be next! That's the punishment for any woman that dares to raise her voice against me and you're no exception! True, it will be a terrible loss for my side to have my best fighter dead, but no woman talks back to me!"

"Shut your damn mouth!" Shiv shouted, punching Razer square in the jaw and making him fall on his ass. He released Rayn and told her to go with Cutter, which she did with little hesitation. Razer wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with distain before he realized that he was now the one being held at gun point. "Don't you ever, EVER lay another hand on Cutteria! And don't you talk down to her like that! You've forced her to pretend to be a man for these past ten years and she's been a better man than you'll ever be! All you use women for is little playthings for a one-night stand and treat them like underlings when they're our equal! I'm sick of your shit! Your reign is over!"

Razer smirked. "So says you, but I think my boys have a different idea."

Shiv found several guns being pointed at him, but was not intimidated. Rather, he smiled a creepy smile that had Razer second-guessing his advantage.

"How loyal to you would they be if they found out what you really thought of them?" Shiv asked.

"Are you threatening me?!" Razer demanded, starting forward only to meet the barrel of Shiv's gun in the chest.

"I don't make threats. I make promises," was Shiv's reply. "You believe yourself to be better than everyone else, that the rest of us are just dirt beneath your feet. That's why you refer to us as boys rather than men. And you've lured so many of these men's wives into your bed behind their back…It's past time they knew of that and all your other crimes against them. I won't keep silent anymore. You don't deserve my silence."

Upon hearing that Razer had slept with their wives, the men that stood behind Razer were now in an uproar. Only UR-86 seemed unfazed, but that was only because he was a robot with no emotions and no wife. No gun was trained on Shiv anymore; if anything, more guns were now trained on Razer and his life was in serious danger. They were demanding the truth be told.

"…What do you want from me, Shiv?" Razer wanted to know.

"I want you to pay for your treatment of women and the men that have served you loyally," Shiv stated. He twisted Razer's wrist and forced him onto his knees with the barrel of his Blaster now resting on his forehead. "You are to become my subordinate, as me and Edje and Cutteria have been yours for these past ten years. You will do whatever I say without question. And if you don't, only death awaits you."

"All right, all right! Whatever you want! Just keep your mouth shut!" Razer practically pleaded of his former right-hand man. "And don't shoot me in the head! I won't look good with a bullet hole on my face!"

Shiv kicked him down in the dirt and gestured for a few men to disarm him. He turned to Rayn, who was still pretty shaken from having her life put in jeopardy.

"Ma'am, I would like to apologize for what happened today. I would like to pledge my loyalty to you, along with that of these men that stand before you. We're also willing to pay for the damage I caused to your mansion with Razer's money as restitution and to show you our loyalty. Would you accept us after what we've done today? All we ask in return is that we get to keep our rights and are treated as equals to everyone else," Shiv said to her.

"…Yes, of course. I'm short on manpower now, but since you spared me, I shall accept your request," Rayn murmured, resulting in Razer screaming "NO!"

"Is everything going to be peaceful now?" Jak demanded as he and his came over to Shiv and Rayn. "If not, we're going to have to do something about you guys."

"We should be doing something, anyway. Look at all these dead people on the ground," Keira remarked, disgusted by all the corpses as she barely managed to avoid stepping on them. "They should all be thrown in jail, or at least pay somehow for all this murder. We can't just let them off scot-free. It wouldn't be fair."

"This was a gang war. All those that died were criminals that probably committed some terrible crimes themselves. We can overlook the deaths of a few criminals," Torn grumbled, not looking happy, but then he never looked happy.

"Besides, Keira, there are more of them than there are of us. You really wanna try arresting them when we're outgunned?" Ashelin pointed out. Keira paled, providing answer enough to her question. "I thought so."

"We shouldn't have any more problems, Jak. The gangs have merged with Shiv being the new leader of our group, so the bloodshed is officially over," Cutter assured him.

"That's good to hear. Though…I was looking forward to shooting that fat pig Kleiver up with my Peacemaker. Oh well. There's always later," Sig said with a pleasant grin.

"There's something familiar about ya, chick," Daxter commented, dropping onto the ground to get a better look at Cutter. "I feel like I've seen you before, but your face ain't registering. And you've been working for Razer for all these years? How come we've never met before?"

Cutter laughed. "You have, you dumb rodent! It's me, Cutter!"

"Say what?!" Daxter exclaimed while everyone else just stared at her in shock.

Shiv put an arm around Cutter's shoulders with a smile. "Yeah, this girl here was forced to be a guy for ten years because Razer didn't want his reputation to be tarnished by allowing a woman to be a member of his gang. I just found out last night when I walked in on her in the bathroom without her mask on. We talked things over and decided it was time for her to come out of hiding. Everyone, I'd like for you to meet Cutteria."

"Everything is so weird here! We need to get back to the country where men are men and women are women!" Daxter complained. "And I wanna see my Tessie-poo! We've been away from home far too long! Jak, can we please go home?!"

"That depends. Are you guys going to cause trouble for us?" Jak wanted to know.

The dark-haired woman smiled. "Jak, we're crime lords. Of course we're going to cause trouble. But we'll try to stay out of your hair if you try to stay out of ours. Crime rules Kras City. You guys should know that from all the time you've spent here. We'll keep it here and away from Haven City and the Wastelands, all right? That's our promise to you for, you know, not killing us or intervening with our problems."

Jak sighed. "All right. But if your problems start leaking out of Kras City, I won't hesitate to hunt you down." Daxter leaped back onto his shoulder. "Come on, guys. Let's go home."

"It's time that we go home, too," Shiv told Cutter as they watched the heroes drive off.

* * *

><p>"This sucks," Razer grumbled as he went about the mansion that had once been his, cleaning the place to Shiv's specifications. It wasn't the cleaning that got to him, though he found it degrading work that only women should do. No, what really bothered him was the uniform his former right-hand man made him wear while doing work. It was the same skimpy little outfit Razer used to make his female civil servants wear, a little justice for the way he treated women. He never felt so exposed before in his life. "Why did I ever tell my darkest secrets to that stupid ginger?! Biggest mistake of my life! Gah!"<p>

Shiv and Cutter were in the parlor with Rayn and other crime lords, discussing business. Though only Shiv was the crime lord of this household, he included Cutter in everything he did because he considered her to be his equal. Edje was Shiv's right-hand man now, but he wasn't allowed in meetings because he would ask too many dumb questions. He didn't mind that, however. It gave him time to indulge in his secret obsession by watching Razer work.

"Quit staring at me, you fool!" Razer snapped, turning to glare at Edje who had been admiring his rear from afar.

"Sorry, boss. You're not in charge of me anymore, and Shiv said I could look at you if I want to do so," Edje stated with a dark gleam in his eye. "He also said I could do whatever I want to you, and I think it's past time that I became one of your conquests."

Razer paled. "You…You're not serious!"

"Come here, boss," Edje ordered in a creepy voice, approaching Razer.

"Get the hell away from me!" Razer screamed, running with Edje pursuing him in that skimpy outfit. "Someone save me from this freak!"

* * *

><p><em>AN: Very weird story, and the only story on Fan Fiction that has the pairing of Cutter and Shiv. Where did I come up with Edje being obsessed with Razer? Watch the cut-scene on **Jak X** where Daxter points out what a fashionable dresser Razer is with his sexy style. Edje nods in agreement with Daxter, and there you go. But as I mentioned before, this was a crack-fic that resulted from me playing the race game too often with my sister. What did you think of it? Please tell me without flaming. Thank you for reading, and have a wonderful day._


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